Happy Thanksgiving, Friends,
Last week my colleagues and I walked with our high school students through the touring exhibit by Doctors without Borders. We listened as some of the field workers, doctors and nurses, showed us what happens when people suddenly have to leave their homes. They explained to us why the cots had holes (cholera effects), what those packets were (nutrients for starving children), how many doses of medicine it took to cure malaria (6), how many people crammed onto the 6-person rafts (30), how many of them died in the sea last year (6,000). We saw how much daily water Americans usually use (200 gallons) and how much refugees use to survive (2 gallons).
We were stunned by photographs of the largest refugee camps (600,000 people). We saw and heard so much, and I’m certain that many of the students felt the impact as much as I did. I left and went home to plenty of food, plenty of warmth, plenty of safety, and resources to spare in case any of these become insecure.
So as the Thanksgiving feasts approach, I’d like to raise a glass at least metaphorically with all of you to say thank you for caring for our children, for worrying about them at night, for smiling at them by day, even when you’re having to flash them “the face.” For keeping them safe and secure, for showing them how to care, how to speak up, how to take care of themselves and to look out for each other. For teaching them day in and day out, the fearsome and magnificent power of words.
Love,
Gretchen Bernabei